I really love these.

These feet, that is. I just can't get enough of these bad boys. I want to nibble them all day. Why is that totally normal because she is a baby, but the thought of nibbling Chris's hobbit feet is not so appealing?

I mean, just look at those little toes. 

And yes, she is addicted to the pacifier. Chris calls it "the plug." The best part is that she insists on always touching her face and half of the time she pulls it out and then screams, of course not realizing that she is holding it in her hand (not that she could figure out how to get it back in her mouth even if she knew she was holding it.)

When she isn't in a sucking mood, she is also quite content to chill in her swing. And I am very content to let her.

My goal for the week is to take some pictures of the two of us together and maybe even a family picture before she leaves the newborn stage. She is quickly plumping out and looking bigger every day...

First Outing

On one of the last days before my Mom left we decided that we just had to get out of the house. The sun was shining and I had been couped up too long, so we went to lunch. I know I am probably crazy for taking a ten day old out in public like that, but we sat in the back of the restaurant and she slept through the whole adventure.

Not so happy to be shoved in the car seat. I, on the other hand was loving being showered and dressed for the first time in two weeks. I had to document it since I don't think it will happen again for the next three months.

Then she discovered her love for the car and slept soundly for the next three hours. Doesn't she look like she could tell you your fortune or read your palm in that headband? Ha!

One thing I have decided I like about New York is that pregnant ladies and babies are a big deal here. In Utah, I rarely got any comments or congratulations for being pregnant. Here, I couldn't take out the trash without someone rolling down their window to congratulate me on my burgeoning belly. When we went to lunch, every table we passed asked if we could stop so they could see the baby. And they fawned over her--I felt like a celebrity. It was awesome.

Worst mother of the year award.

I was feeling ambitious yesterday and decided Britta needed her first manicure. Actually, I was sick of her clawing herself and my bosoms everytime I fed her, so I waited until she was fast asleep and started snipping. I must have gotten too gung-ho because seconds later there was a scream and... breathe deeply ...blood.

Yes, I almost amputated my daughter's finger at ten days old. I am pretty sure I cried harder than she did. Luckily newborns have zero capacity for holding grudges and pretty soon she looked like this again.

All in all, I think she is over it.

So, when we aren't generally abusing or trying to disfigure our child, things are going fairly smoothly. She is sleeping , eating, and pooping like a champ--the three Olympic sports of newborns. She is getting so good at eating, in fact, that we have had to call in all the neighborhood cats to combat the massive milk production.

Chris has been out of town this week which has been capital 'H' Horrible. But, he gets home tonight and we couldn't be happier. My mom has been here which has been a lifesaver and we will be sorry to see her go on Sunday.

Some more favorites from week one.

After they did her footstamp, they put it on Chris's arm. He told me that he didn't wash his arm the whole time we were in the hospital.

Chubs.

As unflattering as this picture is, Chris loves the "like mother, like daughter" factor.

We take full advantage of her awake time.

And even fuller advantage of the precious sleeping time. 

Remember these?

Imagine my sheer joy when I woke up this morning to see these little babies.

My ankles!!! Oh how I missed them. And I know that you have all been wanting to see some more pictures of my feet.

In case you forgot what they looked like two weeks ago...

My wedding ring still won't fit though, so I am wondering if my hands grew or if swelling just goes down slower the higher up the body you go. Like, maybe this means that my face is still swollen and will get skinnier, right? :)

More pictures of the baby to come; because I know you are all as obsessed with her as I am.

A Britta Story

For my memory's sake, I am writing down the birth story. I promise not to go into any gory details because frankly, I would rather forget those as well. Plus, there really aren't many. All in all, it was a pretty smooth process.

I woke up at 4 in the morning on Monday because I was unsure of whether or not my water had broken or if I had just recieved a swift kick to the bladder and had finally lost my ability to hold it. I got up and was still unsure, but soon afterwards I started to feel contractions that were about ten minutes apart. I waited about an hour and then woke Chris up and went to get in the shower just in case the blessed event was finally going to happen. While I was in the shower my contractions started to get a little closer together and when I got out of the shower I noticed that I was having some spotting. So, I called my doctor and he told me to head on over to the hospital when I could so they could check and see if my water had broken.

So happy that something was finally happening.


We packed our bags and moseyed on over to the hospital about an hour later. In that time, my contractions had already moved to about five minutes apart so I was feeling pretty good that we would be having this baby. When I got to the hospital they told me my doctor had called and told the nurses to go ahead and admit me so there was no chance I was going home. Booyah!

I got all settled in the labor and delivery room and they told me that my water had broken and was still breaking, and that my contractions were looking good. I was disappointed to hear though that I was only dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced. Then, things got even worse when they did an ultrasound and told me that the baby was measuring 9 lbs. 15 oz. What!? That is 10 pounds ladies and gentlemen. I knew that the measurements could be off but there was no denying now that she was going to be a decent sized munchkin.

Half of that is sheet...I swear.

Since she was going to be big, my doctor didn't want to put me on any Pictocin or anything that could potentially slow labor down or cause complications but wanted me to labor on my own, which I was grateful for. I went a few hours before I asked for some pain medication. Since they said I was still at a 1 we opted to give me sometihng through my IV first and then my epidural later. I got some very relaxing medication and a few minutes later my contractions got super intense about two minutes apart and seventy seconds long. I will be the first to say that I am a pansy and am okay admitting it. I was begging for the epidural shortly thereafter and almost kissed the anesthesiologist full on the mouth when he finally got there to administer it. It was not bad at all. The IV and the contractions were way more painful than the epidural.

HEAVEN.

They checked me right after the epidural and I was at a six and 100% effaced. An hour later I was at an eight and the baby's head was engaged. I was feeling really good and confident about having a vaginal birth even though the baby was big. The nurses and my doctor kept checking me every so often but I stayed steady at an eight. About five hours later my doctor noticed that one side of my cervix was swelling and thus thickening back up. He monitored it for a while and it continued to swell. At this point it was almost 11 pm and I had been at an eight for over five hours with no progress.

 In addition, my blood pressure had been high from the moment I started labor and would call for my doctor to give me a magnesium drip once labor began. He didn't want to do it before then because it has a tendency to slow labor down and he wanted to see if my blood pressure would go down on its own. He told me it was totally up to me whether I wanted to continue to wait it out and see what happened, but after dicussing it with Chris we decided we wanted to have a C-Section to get our girl here. We felt like the swelling of my cervix, the fact that I wasn't making any progress (actually almost going backwards), the magensium that was going to slow things down, and the fact that this baby could be over nine pounds were all reasons we wanted to avoid any harm to me or the baby and just get here here safely.

So, they prepped me for surgery and she was out a half an hour later. I have to admit, I was really opposed to having a C-Section going into this experience and I still want to try vaginal births in the future if I can, but I felt really good about our decision to have the surgery this time. I also respected that my doctor did not try to push me into it, but let me follow my birth plan and make informed decisions about what would happen. The surgery went really well and I couldn't feel a thing. Recovery has really not been bad at all. I was up the next day and was able to be discharged from the hospital a day early. I think the biggest bummer was that I wasn't able to hold the baby right away because they had to take me into recovery.

Close up of Chris' nose which she inherited. Love it.

After the surgery, my doctor told me that her head was in position but was turned in the wrong direction and that was what was causing the swelling in my cervix. She may have turned her head back on her own, but she also my not have and it would have caused my progression to be really slow for the rest of labor. Also, he thinks I may have had mild preeclampsia during labor since my blood pressure was high but had been perfectly normal throughout my pregnancy. All in all, things are good now. We are very happy to be home and are taking full advantage of my mom being in town to help.

That's the long and the short of it. Give yourself a pat on the back if you read this entire post--you earned it.

Ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes.

Introducing Britta Ann Herman.She was very punctual being born on her due date--February 21st, at 11:29 p.m. Tipping the scales at 8 pounds 8 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long.

We think we did pretty well.

More details and pictures to follow...

As requested.

This is for Chelsea since she requested an updated picture. Here is a self-adminstered bathroom picture at 39 weeks and 1 day. I got my first "Are you sure it's not twins?" comment at church on Sunday. I will forever wonder what inspires some people to say the things they do.

 Also, here are my swollen feet. This is not the worst they have been by a long shot. And, the left one is always more swollen than the right. Because I'm left-handed? Who knows.

Walking it out.

The minute Chris returned from his business trip to Canada we started a walking crusade to induce labor. No luck so far. We have taken to walking through the village, to the the library, along the beach, and have begun a nightly ritual of doing  laps at the mall.

I almost laughed at my mom six months ago when she told me that walking would be plenty of exercise at nince months pregnant. Apparently I thought I was some sort of superwoman. But, it turns out that when you are suspending a massive amount of weight in front of you like a bowling ball, walking at a "brisk" pace (I use that term very loosely) does in fact have the power to entirely wind you. The fact that contractions show up while you are walking and force you to waddle is really just adding insult to injury at this point.

Most of all, I just want to be able to fit in to more than three outfits comfortably and be able to wear shoes again without Chris having to shove my entire swollen ankle into them. Everytime I look down at my feet, I think of Shrek. This must be what his feet look like...ogre-ish.

Sorry for the boredom.

There really hasn't been much of value to report. I am still fat, still swollen, and have added a nasty cold to my daily routine. This is finally clearing up which is wonderful because I was really not excited about the idea of giving birth while my head was pounding from sinus pressure and I was unable to breathe through my nose.

Now it is just a waiting game. I have gone into full-fledged nesting mode and am daily scrubbing down the surfaces of our home to prepare for this bundle of joy. I will let you know if anything interesting happens...